Ezekiel 22:17-30

When people are seemingly becoming successful by their own means they become proud, but Israel's methods were unjust, and so God would call time on them.When He did this they would not look so clever. Many times it seems that unworthy people of one sort or another seem to get away with it, but every time there will come a point where they are found out.

The people of Israel had become dross to the Lord. This is the exact opposite of what Israel thought she was in the Lord's eyes. The people thought Jerusalem was the city of God, they thought it was the place which God would protect and so they would be safe. Instead it would indeed be the focus of God's attention, but it would be the place where God utterly destroyed them. Again we see that it is utterly futile to put our faith in the trappings of religion.

God then criticises the leaders, both civic and religious. The political leaders exploited the people, especially the poor, the religious leaders had no respect for the Lord. The priests made no distinction between holy and unholy, between right and wrong. We very much need to be on our guard in this respect today. It is easy to think this is just a failing of the Church of England, Church of Scotland, and other traditional churches, but the attitude in society is pervasive, and we all need to keep a careful watch upon ourselves.

The Lord looked for someone to correct the situation, but the nation failed to respond. Therefore judgement would rain down on them.